UPDATE - Bomb threat at Cologne mosque found to be a hoax

UPDATES WITH LATEST DEVELOPMENTS, EDITS THROUGHOUT

COLOGNE, Germany (AA) - The police have issued an "all clear" after investigating a bomb threat at Germany’s largest mosque in the western city of Cologne.

The bomb threat, apparently sent by a far-right group via e-mail on Tuesday, forced the evacuation of visitors and staff at Cologne Central Mosque, which is run by the Turkish-Muslim umbrella group DITIB.

The headquarters of the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB) was also evacuated.

After searching the complex with bomb-sniffing dogs, the police found no bomb and the area was deemed safe.

Germany has witnessed growing Islamophobia in recent years triggered by the propaganda of far-right parties, and more than 100 mosques and religious institutions were attacked by by far-right extremists in 2018.

Police recorded 813 hate crimes against Muslims last year, including insults, threatening letters and physical assaults. At least 54 Muslims were injured in the attacks.

Germany, a country of over 81 million people, has the second-largest Muslim population in Western Europe after France. Among the country’s nearly 4.7 million Muslims, 3 million are of Turkish origin.